The Delhi high court has said that Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, Netta D'Souza along with others conspired to 'launch a tirade of false scathing and belligerent personal attacks' on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Smriti Irani and her daughter, who are neither owners of the restaurant in Goa nor have they ever applied for the licence for food and beverages at the eatery, as alleged.
Reverend Filipe Neri Ferrao, has urged the central government to "immediately and unconditionally revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act" and stop quashing the "right to dissent".
In the last two-and-a half years, the Congress has lost 13 of its MLAs to the BJP which now enjoys an overwhelming majority in the assembly.
The Congress rebels are seeking to install a person of their choice as the new chief minister of the state.
Chandrasekhar was reacting to the arrest of Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party leader S G Suryah under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act allegedly over a social media post.
The Congress, which is the single-largest party with 16 MLAs, has already staked claim to form the government in the coastal state.
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
Besides the national capital, polling for the sixth round of the marathon seven-phase elections will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
Nath's comment came amid the exodus from Congress and four days after eight MLAs of the Grand Old Party from Goa switched allegiance to BJP.
Here are some of the glimpses.
Reacting sharply to Banerjee's fulminations, the Congress struck back pointing out that Prime Minster Narendra Modi's and her stand were similar, with one seeking a 'Congress 'Mukt' (Free) India' and the other, an 'Opposition coalition sans Congress'.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
At its Jaipur meeting, the BJP will focus on this year's assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh while the Congress's Chintan Shivir in Udaipur will discuss how it can resurrect itself.
If the Congress reached 90, it would have a pretty good chance of holding the BJP below the 272 mark. A hundred seats will rock national politics, argues Shekhar Gupta.
According to the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear on Tuesday.
Amid speculation that he would return to Goa politics, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday kept everyone guessing by describing himself as a "party man" who will work as per the directions of party leaders.
"The people of Goa demand that we should send Parrikar back to the state," Shah said.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party managed to notch up a morale-boosting win on its 'Mission Northeast' on Thursday by retaining Tripura emphatically, despite anti-incumbency and newcomer Tipra Motha playing spoilers to its party, while also piggy-backing to power in Nagaland on Neiphiu Rio-led NDPP's shoulder.
Shinde and Fadnavis held a brief meeting at the latter's residence before both of them headed to the Raj Bhavan along with several BJP leaders.
The final journey of Goa's 'son of the soil' begun from Kala Academy in Panjim. A teeming column of mourners followed on foot and vehicles.
The Congress now knows that it is the only force -- however weakened it might be -- that stands between the BJP and India's evolution into a single-party Republic. Because, once it is out of the way, the BJP could sort out the other regional powers: Co-opting some, demolishing others, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Besides 11 members from BJP, three each from the Goa Forward Party, the MGP and independents supported Sawant during the head count conducted in the House.
Earlier, BJP leader Ram Lal said the Goa government is stable and no demand has been made for a change in the leadership.
The anguish of the party MLAs seems to be directed at Digvijay Singh who has been handling the party affairs in Goa.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
The Delhi high court on Friday issued summons to Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza on a civil defamation suit filed by Union minister Smriti Irani seeking damages of over Rs 2 crore for allegedly making baseless allegations against her and her daughter.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
The widely expected development underlines the party's preference for continuity as it gears up for the all-important Lok Sabha polls next year, expected in April-May.
While former minister and MLA Aravind Limbavali's wife Manjula Arvind Limbavali has got the ticket for the Mahadevapura constituency, the party has fielded Katta Jagadish, son of former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu from Hebbal.
If the BJP is set to return to power in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and even Goa, it is not because of the party's performance or the quality of governance. No. It is essentially Modi's popularity, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The Congress continues to decline and BJP's regional rivals are making their presence felt, even in Uttar Pradesh where Samajwadi Party consolidated anti-BJP votes to a large extent.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
Raj Thackeray listed out his expectations from the PM in his third term in office.
Healthcare services remained affected at state-run hospitals in West Bengal as junior doctors continued their cease-work protest.
BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday promised Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs in Himachal Pradesh while releasing the party's manifesto for the state assembly polls.
As the new year arrives, what is clear is that the BJP's stars continue to shine the brightest while its rivals' search for a way to dim their glow go on.
Assembly elections to five crucial states will take place in a few months and the results will be decisive for the BJP, which is eyeing a third successive term at the Centre, in the forthcoming the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is expected to stake claim to form the next government in Maharashtra soon following the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister, will be holding a series of meetings in Mumbai on Thursday to decide the future course of action, where party's state in-charge C T Ravi will remain present, party sources said.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani will skip the meeting of party office-bearers in Goa on Thursday due to ill-health.
